While the Dallas Mavericks have only slightly improved upon their record from last season, the team is seeing dramatic gains in its television viewership. Average ratings for games on regional sports network FOX Sports Southwest have increased 74% to 1.34 over last season, according to SportsBusiness Journal. It’s the second biggest increase in the league behind only the Denver Nuggets, who have seen an 85% jump.

Internationally, the Mavericks are also performing well. As of the end of January, Dallas saw a 31% increase from last year in NBA International League Pass unique viewers, according to league data. Whats more, global viewers are also watching the Mavs for longer. Watch time for Dallas games is up almost 81% on International League Pass.

Dallas’ ratings gains are a dramatic turnaround from where the team was two years ago. The 2016-17 season saw the Mavericks post their lowest TV ratings in 11 years, coming in at 0.84, a 47% decline from the previous season. The ratings plummet coincided with the team’s first losing season in 15 years. Even though the Mavs will post a third consecutive losing record this year, the uptick in viewers is encouraging.

“It's a step in the right direction,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in an e-mail.

A possible reason why the team is experiencing a larger draw on its RSN is that the Mavericks appear to have a bright future, thanks in large part to the exciting play of rookie sensation Luka Doncic. Doncic has won four consecutive Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards and his highlight reel-worthy plays are must-watch viewing this season.

Another factor likely driving ratings is the perception that this is Dirk Nowitzki’s final season in the
NBA. The league, opposing franchises and their fans have shown Nowitzki, the face of the Mavericks for two decades, an outpouring of gratitude and respect since his return from injury in December. Fans could be tuning in to watch him play as they can before he hangs it up. However, he hasn’t said definitively whether he’s retiring or not this summer.

Regardless of the exact reasons contributing to the Mavericks’ increased appeal, they are one of the few teams bucking a ratings decline league-wide. Television ratings for nationally broadcast games as well as those on RSNs are down.

As of the All-Star break in February, TNT has seen viewership declines of 18% compared to last year. NBA TV is down 17% and ABC dropped 3%. Meanwhile,
ESPN’s ratings are flat. Locally, RSNs for 28 of the 30 teams saw an average loss of 10%. However, 15 teams have seen a ratings increase this season.

Perhaps a larger concern is the overall drop in viewers age 18 to 34, the NBA’s primary demographic. From 2010 to 2018, pay TV viewership as a whole saw an almost 50% decline among that group, something that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently addressed at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston. During that time, however, the NBA only saw about a 7% decline in that audience, according to league data.

With numbers down across the league, Dallas should take solace knowing that it’s seeing viewership gains even as it struggles through another losing season. Next season, though, the Mavericks could see even more gains. The continued ascent of Doncic as well as the addition of former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis, who the team acquired via trade for in early February, could push the Mavericks’ TV ratings even higher.

Update: March 5, 2019

This post was updated to include information about the Dallas Mavericks' NBA International League Pass viewership and the NBA's 7% decline in viewers age 18 to 34 from 2010 to 2018.

Doyle Rader is a Dallas-based writer. You can follow him on Twitter @TheKobeBeef.